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'In October 2010 the Tasmanian Poetry Festival will be held in Launceston for the twenty-fifth year in a row. It was started by Tim Thorne in 1985…To mark this year’s milestone, some previous Guest Poets were asked to record their memories of attending and reading at the festival.' (p 44)

Notes

Epigraph: It was an enjoyable revel - that much I do remember about that poetry fest in Launceston in 1994, but I'm sorry I'm not up to delivering a printable piece. I should keep a diary of those times when - as P Larkin said - I go/went around 'pretending to myself' - his definition of a reading.

Sincerely, Seamus Heaney

[This is a handwritten note I received from Heaney in 2010. Heaney was a guest of the 1994 Tasmanian Poetry Festival, the year before he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. This was his response to being invited to submit a brief memoir for this article]